Sunday, April 29, 2012

Bowing to the Muslims. Defecating on the Jews.

As a company, Reuters is deeply hostile to Jewish nationalism and Jewish claims to Jerusalem. The agency hires, trains and retains reporters, writers, editors, and managing editors who uphold an agenda intended to undermine Jewish territorial claims, while advocating for Arab Muslim claims, and employing sophisticated propaganda techniques in their stories to advance this agenda with audiences.

Proof of this can be seen in academic studies which have analyzed Reuters coverage of the Middle East conflict.

Browning writes about the tension between Arabs from Jordan and other countries who wish to visit the mosque, and those Arabs who argue that doing so implicitly recognizes Israel's claim to sovereignty over the city.

In his lede, Browning writes:

Israel controls access to Islam's 3rd holiest site

While Browning trumpets a claim made by Muslims that the al-Aqsa mosque represents the "3rd holiest site" for their faith, he fails utterly to note that the site is the holiest to Jews and referred to as the Temple Mount. Indeed, it is not until the 9th paragraph of his story that Browning tells readers, in typically propagandistic fashion:

Jews revere the al Aqsa compound as site of their Biblical
Temple, destroyed by Roman troops in the 1st century.

Actually of course, Jews do not revere the "al-Aqsa compound" -- any more than Muslims revere the Cathedral of Córdoba in Spain, which was converted from a mosque to a Catholic church in the thirteenth century following the Reconquista. Religious Muslims refer to the latter by its original Islamic name, the Aljama Mosque, just as Jews refer to the al-Aqsa mosque compound as The Temple Mount.

(Of note, Muslims are officially banned from praying in the Cathedral of Córdoba by both the Roman Catholic Church of Spain and the Vatican. Security guards enforce the ban. Apparently, "Israeli occupation forces" in Jerusalem are extraordinarily more tolerant of Islamic worship than are "Spanish occupation forces" in al-Andalus).

Browning, who is apparently ignorant of both history and current events and completely unable to do any independent fact-checking as a reporter, then writes:

Israel says that when Jordan controlled East Jerusalem, Jews
were prevented from attending their holy places. Now, it says,
followers of all the three monotheistic religions -- Judaism,
Christianity and Islam -- are free to worship in Jerusalem.Any restrictions placed on access by Palestinians to al-Aqsa
are the result of security concerns, Israel says.

It's a well-documented fact that Jews were prevented from attending their holy places, or for that matter, setting foot in Jerusalem when Jordan controlled the city. And that synagogues were burned to the ground. And that landmark Jewish cemeteries were routinely desecrated by Arab Muslims. Browning deliberately structures his report to relegate the 19-year ban on Jewish worship to a mere claim by Israel and predictably mentions none of the other historical detail, essential to an understanding of why Israel seeks to control the eastern portion of Jerusalem.

The Reuters correspondent then parrots the most risible Arab claims about Israeli visitors to the Temple Mount:

Jerusalem's Muslim community says the [Israeli] visits have coincided
with a period of tension, as radical Jewish settlers grow
increasingly assertive at the site.
"Almost every day a group of settlers comes through the
Mughrabi gate," said Faisal Mohammed, one of the sanctuary's
guards, referring to an entrance under Israeli control through
which non-Muslim tourists can access the leafy compound."These aren't just ordinary trips, they're invasions."

In reality, hundreds of Israeli Jews of all religious and political stripes, as well as tourists from around the world, visit the site every week. No political demonstrations of any kind are permitted and Israeli security personnel quickly arrest or usher away any Jew seen as even remotely engaging in prayer.

But for the Palestinian Arabs, and apparently for Reuters' Browning:

"Visits which affirm the Arab and Islamic character of
al-Aqsa, even before its liberation, are welcome. My own
proclamations affirm this," the Grand Mufti told Reuters.
"Those that are aggressive and meant to attack our shrine
are not, and Israel must forbid them."

4 comments:

The agenda of Hezbollah, Hamas and the Palestian Islamic jihad to destroy the State of Israel is fated to fail, Because they are overruled by the God of the Bible. For such Islamic enities are striving against the Will of God. This land belongs to the Jewish people by Divine Right, Genesis 28:13-15. 35:10-12. Deuteronomy 32;48,49. Pslam 105;7-11. This land also belongs to the Jews by Historic rights, First Kings 4:20,21,24,25. 8:55,56. Eventhough the menbers of these above mentioned groups may not know it,they nevertheless are wicked because the are trying to work against the Will of God.So even if the members of these Islamic groups join their forces aganst Isreal they will lose and be punnished. For the Bible teaches in Proverbs 11:21. "Though hand join in hand the wicked shall not go unpunished." Palsm 83:18,17 also teach about the lost cause of uniting to go to war against Israel. In all fairness, there is one way the the jihadists can convince God to give the land to them and have the Jewish nation be no more. That way is to change the laws of astrophyics, including that of the sun, the moon and the stars. For God has declared in Jeremiah 31:35,36. "Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day and the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night...The Lord of host is His name. If those ordinance depart from before me saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease being a nation before Me forever."[KJV]

We must keep watch, for the time is drawing near. Pray for peace in Jerusalem. Israel's enemies are surrounding her. A preemptive strike on Iran by Israel seems eminent. A nuclear Iran would be disasterous.

This just goes to show the increasingly anti-Semitic trends in Europe, as also displayed in the recent change in EU policy concerning settlements, as outlined here: http://jcpa.org/article/the-european-union-hypocrisy-hostility-and-blatant-prejudice/.

RMEW* exposes errors, bias, and propaganda in Reuters Middle East Reporting. It is not a "blog" as such but rather an open, public, evidentiary database documenting Reuters' violations of its own Trust Principles, Handbook, and generally accepted standards of professional journalism.

Reuters Fauxtography Faux Pas

Original photo of Gaza flotilla passenger with knife and pool of blood next to injured Israeli marines (as composed by Turkish IHH photographer)

Cropped version of same photo (as published by Reuters)

Reversal of Reality

"International criticism has also focused on a blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza, where conditions have gone from bad to much worse." -- Reuters reporter Tom Perry

Failure to Fact-Check

"The decline in infant mortality [in Gaza], which has occurred steadily over recent decades, has stalled in the last few years." -- Reuters quoting Max Gaylard, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Palestinian territories

Parroting Racist Propaganda

"Palestinians widely believe Israel aims to 'Judaise' the city [Jerusalem], pushing out Arabs and expanding the Jewish population and construction." -- Reuters reporter Tom Perry

Inanimate objects take on a life of their own

"In Sunday's incident [Israeli] police fired tear gas and stun grenades at hundreds of Palestinians who had gathered in anticipation of such a move by groups associated with Jewish settlers in the West Bank. Stones, chairs and other objects hit police." -- (former) Reuters Bureau Chief Alastair Macdonald

Reuters Fauxtography Faux Pas

This Reuters photograph shows blatant evidence of manipulation. Notice the repeating patterns in the smoke; this is almost certainly caused by using the Photoshop "clone" tool to add more smoke to the image -- Little Green Footballs